By: Dawda Baldeh
The governor of the Central Bank of The Gambia (CBG) Buah Saidy and Babucarr Ismaila Joof, the Minister of Trade, Industry and Regional Integration & Employment earlier today addressed a gathering at the opening of the 2023 Afreximbank Gambia Trade Roadshow held at the International Conference Center in Bijilo.
Afreximbank is a pan-African multilateral trade finance institution created in 1993 under the auspices of the African Development Bank and it is headquartered in Cairo, Egypt.
The event brought together central bank governors and senior banking officials across Africa and is geared towards brainstorming ideas to adopt inter-Africa trade with the theme, “Sustaining the intra-Africa Drive: Navigating through last miles.”
The event was organized by Oakeood Green Africa Limited in partnership with Gambia Investment and Export Agency (GIEPA).
Speaking on cross-border infrastructure, Buah Saidy said the Central Bank of The Gambia has conducted a light test on commercial banks’ operations of the Pan African Payment System (PAPS) for the facilitation of inter-regional trading across Africa.
“When fully launched, it will become possible to conduct inter-trading in Africa in African national currencies. With this, a Gambian can buy goods in Sierra Leone and pay in dalasis and the Sierra Leonean seller will receive payments in Leones,” he explained.
Mr Saidy added that conducting trading through PAPS platforms will not only facilitate inter-regional trading but will save the continent from payment of millions of dollars in transfer and settlement charges as well as valuation losses.
“I wish to imply Afreximbank to accelerate and intensify support in this area so that small and medium entrepreneurs can contribute to the economic growth. As such, the extension of technical and financial support to them will lead to efficient rate and improve productivity,” he emphasized.
Babucarr Ismaila Joof, the Minister of Trade, Industry, and Regional Integration & Employment, said the forum signifies the desire of the Pan Africanism of driving the African agenda in key sectors of financing.
He said Afreximbank has been the cardinal point for African governments in their collective actions to support the expansion, diversification, and promotional development of African development and trade development.
“The roadshow geared towards promoting Afreximbank mandate in The Gambia by fostering a deeper understanding of bank products in the banking and business communities will serve to reinforce and activate various initiatives aimed at driving Gambia’s participation in inter-Africa trade,” he noted.
Minister Joof described the event as a follow-up to last year’s roadshow to further open discussions with key government and business entities.
“The event will further provide the opportunity to entities that could not be engaged last year to explore possible funding or structuring support from both Afreximbank and Oakwood Green Africa Limited.
Inter-African trade has long been a topic of discussion at many levels including the African Union, ECOWAS, and other regional blocks,” he explained.
He added that for the inter-African trade to have sound effects, they must promote competitiveness, diversification, and innovation and improve productivity based on fragmentation to common currencies.
“We must also set protocols that facilitate regional trade without any pediments. The Gambia government through my ministry will continue to promote African trade through the African continental free trading,” he outlined.
